Playing the Final Fantasy games

[ZeusComplex]

VI will always be my favorite title in the series. It was my first real RPG that I have completed multiple playthroughs of as a kid. It also showed to me there are much deeper games out on the market than plumbers and little blue hedgehogs. I started out as a console game and it was this very exact title that gave me the encouragement to try out different RPG's, especially when I had a PC to use. Perhaps its a bit far fetched to say, but without the influence of FFVI in my life, I may have never even been inclined to check out more western styles RPGs of that time.

As for the game itself, I still consider it a masterpiece that I still play to this day from time to time. The story and characters are excellent, the setting was really original at the time and about halfway through the game, it completely opens up in true non-linear fashion, very impressive for a JRPG and something I have yet to see in other Final Fantasy games. (granted I've only fully completed I, IV, and most of VII) Not to mention, its a fairly beastly game I can easily put over 50 hours into, also something rare for a RPG of that time period to do. I've played all the Final Fantasies and none of them capture my attention like this game.

The newer ones are fail. X has the worst main protagonist of any RPG I've played, MMO's don't count and while I liked XII's gameplay, the story was lacking and well, XIII? I was watching a movie, not playing a game. The closest I've played to a GOOD JRPG this game generations are the Tales games. Definitely check out Tales of Vesperia if you want a more old school style JRPG.

 

[Korin]

Final Fantasy VI was the mother flippin' best but that may be the nostalgia talking. I doubt I could complete another playthrough if I ever tried to pick it up again.

 

[rcorporon]

VI will always be my favorite title in the series. It was my first real RPG that I have completed multiple playthroughs of as a kid. It also showed to me there are much deeper games out on the market than plumbers and little blue hedgehogs. I started out as a console game and it was this very exact title that gave me the encouragement to try out different RPG's, especially when I had a PC to use. Perhaps its a bit far fetched to say, but without the influence of FFVI in my life, I may have never even been inclined to check out more western styles RPGs of that time.

As for the game itself, I still consider it a masterpiece that I still play to this day from time to time. The story and characters are excellent, the setting was really original at the time and about halfway through the game, it completely opens up in true non-linear fashion, very impressive for a JRPG and something I have yet to see in other Final Fantasy games. (granted I've only fully completed I, IV, and most of VII) Not to mention, its a fairly beastly game I can easily put over 50 hours into, also something rare for a RPG of that time period to do. I've played all the Final Fantasies and none of them capture my attention like this game.

The newer ones are fail. X has the worst main protagonist of any RPG I've played, MMO's don't count and while I liked XII's gameplay, the story was lacking and well, XIII? I was watching a movie, not playing a game. The closest I've played to a GOOD JRPG this game generations are the Tales games. Definitely check out Tales of Vesperia if you want a more old school style JRPG.

FFX was, IMO, one of the best in terms of main character. It also approached a love story in a very mature manner, which is rare in JRPG's.

I've read that FFXII was originally supposed to be about Balthier, but the story was changed, and it shows.

FFXIII was good, but very different.

We agree on VI though, it's just a masterpiece.

 

[Surf Solar]

How exactly was the lovestory in X "mature"? It was the same weaboo shit like in all the other jRPGs. Don't get me wrong, I played me some Final Fantasy games (I like IV , VI and, huh! VIII the most), but calling something "mature" in there is just inane.

 

[Karyyk]

Probably the only ones I didn't like were the MMO's (I tried with XI), VIII & XII (which felt like an MMO). X & XIII were ok, but not so great that I didn't end up quitting them in favor of other games (the truly great games demand that they be finished).

As for the high-school/college thing, just make sure that whatever field you go into is one you can make some money with. The whole "independent adult" thing means paying bills (which never becomes any more fun than the first time you have to do it). Keep college as inexpensive as possible and learn a trade you can always fall back on. With the economy how it is, you see lots of people with four-year (liberal arts) degrees out-of-work or underemployed.

 

[UncannyGarlic]

^Well, early FFs are fun for the gameplay, and for the messing around with the system. The whole idea of a linear JRPG that ignores everything for the story didn't get firmly established until FFVII. Games like FFI, III, V are more like sandbox exploration games with the story as nothing more than the pretext for that.

They aren't really sandbox games because there really is pretty much a set order to how you play through at least I and V, though I haven't played enough of III to really know. FFI and FFIII are definitely pretty much plot free but FFV tried to have a plot, admittedly it was minimal but it's still pretty bad.

I do agree that FFI is hopelessly outdated, especially because III and V were a dramatic improvement of its original concepts. Still, it more or less pioneered the (sub-)genre, so credit where it's due (even if the specific sub-genre is for all purposes dead).

Oh there's no denying that it and Dragon Quest pioneered the JRPG genre but I'd say that FFIII really did more to define what else JRPGs can be. The Job system has been adopted by TRPGs pretty much in full, FFX-2 was really the last to use it. That said, FFX's (and to a lesser extent, so were FFVII, FFVIII, and FFXII) system was more or less based on a similar core concept of variety in character development.

As for FFI to FFIII jump... Well, it's more like FFIII is a more polished, improved version of FFI - a return to the original formula after FFII more or less failed. Unfortunately, the game doesn't get all the credit it deserves as pretty much the founding game for most classical FF lore, probably because the release of FFIV on SNES within a year completely overshadowed it, and because it didn't see an official release outside Japan until the remake a few years ago.

I really need to play more of it but FFIII definitely seems to do a lot right. FFIV deserves credit for succeeding where FFII failed but FFVI really deserves the credit for popularizing JRPGs in the west.

 

[Alphadrop]

FFX was, IMO, one of the best in terms of main character. It also approached a love story in a very mature manner, which is rare in JRPG's.

The main character was the personification of a dream created by a bunch of dead people to fight a giant whale that was his dad. Or something.
Wouldn't exactly call it the best main character in a Final Fantasy game.

 

[ramessesjones]

I greatly prefer the 2-D FF games. Amano is much better artist and character designer than the people they have had since. The people in X, especially Tidus look ridiculous.

The early 3-D games have aged very badly visually, the polygons are too jagged and the textures are crude and more problematically the slow battle animations kill the pacing of the games, so you spend more time watching than actually doing things, this was especially bad in VIII and IX, were single animations would take longer than the ATB bar took to fill. 2-D jrpgs from the era like Suikoden 2 or Persona 2, have aged much better.

For me VI is clearly the best, although Tactics is good also. The games before VI are all a little primitive at this point though, but I'd rather play them than the newer games.

 

[archont]

My relationship to Final Fantasy is the same as to furries.

There are people who claim it's fun, it's great, it's something different. But neither can I imagine myself doing it or how it could possibly be fun.

To be honest, I obtained a copy of Final Fantasy: Advent Children for a friend. Interestingly enough I didn't see the Final Fantasy in it and to that time I never payed any attention to those games, and so I approached the movie with no prejudice or bias.

Honestly for the first 30 minutes I laughed all the time as I thought it to be some sort of deconstructionist parody of Lion King meets Terminator.

Then I realized it's supposed to be serious.

 

[UncannyGarlic]

The main character was the personification of a dream created by a bunch of dead people to fight a giant whale that was his dad. Or something.
Wouldn't exactly call it the best main character in a Final Fantasy game.

I think the problem was more that he was a whiney bitch who did far too much narating. I don't think that the English voice actor that they got helped him out any, nor did Yuna's for that matter. Yuna was also a pretty crappy character.

The early 3-D games have aged very badly visually, the polygons are too jagged and the textures are crude and more problematically the slow battle animations kill the pacing of the games, so you spend more time watching than actually doing things, this was especially bad in VIII and IX, were single animations would take longer than the ATB bar took to fill. 2-D jrpgs from the era like Suikoden 2 or Persona 2, have aged much better.

FFVII looks like crap, there's no getting around that. I remember when it was new and I thought it looked cool, which it did outside of the 3D graphics on the exploration screens. The battle graphics were fine for it's time and the backgrounds outside of battle were very well drawn. The graphics did steadily improve though. That said, the summon animations were always a bitch which is why it surprised me that they fucking legnthened them in FFVIII (and added a retarded QTE). FFIX really didn't bother me once I got beyond the bizare stylization.

I agree though, 2-D RPGs from the PSX still look great and I'm really quite annoyed that 2D games like those are all but not being made.

Advent Children was a cash-in on the fan-base, it's as much Final Fantasy as most game to movie adaptations are.

 

[Ausdoerrt]

I agree though, 2-D RPGs from the PSX still look great and I'm really quite annoyed that 2D games like those are all but not being made.

Well, it's not "acceptable" for mainstream games anymore unless they're for DS - there the 2D style carries on to the extent. Still, most smaller, niche game companies usually work with sprites or some combination of sprites and 3D because they don't have the resources to make 3D look good, so it's not really all that rare.

Advent Children was a cash-in on the fan-base, it's as much Final Fantasy as most game to movie adaptations are.

Worse than that, it's a cash-in for one of the most annoying and persistent gaming fanbases in existence. Still, it was a relatively fun action-flick to watch if you turn your brain off and skip all the talking. Then you're basically watching a GFX demo for PS3.

 

[Wintermind]

. Then you're basically watching a GFX demo for PS3.

No, that's Metal Gear Solid 4.

 

[Guiltyofbeingtrite]

I'm surprised that people like IX so much, I found the characters to be incredibly boring and nothing about it really separated it from the pack of RPGS over the years. It also had an absurdly worthless card game, while VIII's was incredibly useful. I thought 8 had much better characters, believable enemies and a much more mature theme overal.

 

[Ausdoerrt]

^ Haha, you called FFVIII's theme "mature" It's typical teenage romance drama, man. It's executed pretty well, but it's anything but "mature". I'm also not sure what's more "believable" - the monsters who jump from the moon, group amnesia, or a time-travelling sorceress.

Don't misunderstand, I like FFVIII a lot as well, but IX's more laid-back attitude appeals to me even more, the game may take itself less serious but it succeeds at being fun, and unlike the half-failed attempts at "gritty sci-fi" of VII and VIII, it retains the spirit of "Final Fantasy". I'm not sure what your issue with the card game is (I thought it was a welcome improvement over the somewhat bland FFVIII minigame), but even assuming it's as bad as you say, FFIX had other fun minigames (Chocobo digging, and especially Treasure hunt because it encouraged exploration) that FFVIII utterly lacked.

That's only from a perspective of a guy who played IX before the earlier games. Fans of pre-VII games would no doubt be all over the references and homages to earlier games.

 

[Phil the Nuka-Cola Dude]

The problem with VIII is that the game was fucking miserable if you played it like a normal RPG, and that's a huge failure on the part of the developers. No RPG should punish you for leveling up, and that's exactly what VIII (and Oblivion) did. Leveling up meant that you got WEAKER, because your stats were tied to junctions; but enemies stats were tied to their level. Level one has you as strong as you'll ever be, and every level is SHARPLY downhill from there.

If you sat there for 3-4 hours in the beginning and played cards until you had full awesome junctions (tornado, etc) , and encounter-none from Diablos; you could breeze through the entire game literally 1-2 hitting everything because you didn't get experience from 9/10 of the forced encounters, and had no random encounters to fuck you over by making you level.

Also, Squall has to be the most unlikable fucking sad-boy in the series.



In my opinion, VII > IX > VI >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> VIII

 

[Ausdoerrt]

It's a JRPG. It's technically not even an RPG. You don't play it as one. Yeah, sorry to break it to you, dude.

Everyone keeps hatin' on the junction system, but I played fairly casually without min/maxing, and didn't have any horrible trouble with the game - just a little grind towards the end to make the final boss easier.

Squall may be a sad-boy, but at least he's less useless and forgettable than Cloud. (trolling detected )

 

[UncannyGarlic]

Well, it's not "acceptable" for mainstream games anymore unless they're for DS - there the 2D style carries on to the extent. Still, most smaller, niche game companies usually work with sprites or some combination of sprites and 3D because they don't have the resources to make 3D look good, so it's not really all that rare.

I'm talking for more mainstream games or hell, even less casual genres/games.

Worse than that, it's a cash-in for one of the most annoying and persistent gaming fanbases in existence. Still, it was a relatively fun action-flick to watch if you turn your brain off and skip all the talking. Then you're basically watching a GFX demo for PS3.

Yeah, it definitely not completely lacking enjoyment it's just that the plot was horrible and nonsensical.

I'm surprised that people like IX so much, I found the characters to be incredibly boring and nothing about it really separated it from the pack of RPGS over the years. It also had an absurdly worthless card game, while VIII's was incredibly useful. I thought 8 had much better characters, believable enemies and a much more mature theme overal.

I like my minigames to be useless, thank you very much. FFVIII required you to find everyone with every card you wanted and play them until you could get that card from them. It was yet another level of grinding added to the game. FFIX also spiced up the game a bit.

Don't misunderstand, I like FFVIII a lot as well, but IX's more laid-back attitude appeals to me even more, the game may take itself less serious but it succeeds at being fun, and unlike the half-failed attempts at "gritty sci-fi" of VII and VIII, it retains the spirit of "Final Fantasy".

I thought that they did a good job on FFVII's world and plot, up there for contention for best FF plot in my mind. FFVIII was a character drama through and through, I didn't feel like the setting was all that important to the plot.

The problem with VIII is that the game was fucking miserable if you played it like a normal RPG, and that's a huge failure on the part of the developers. No RPG should punish you for leveling up, and that's exactly what VIII (and Oblivion) did. Leveling up meant that you got WEAKER, because your stats were tied to junctions; but enemies stats were tied to their level. Level one has you as strong as you'll ever be, and every level is SHARPLY downhill from there.

Actually it's level scaling was more complicated than that and the attempt to eliminate grinding was a good one. Oblivion didn't punish you for leveling up if you were leveling up the right skills, in fact it made the game far too easy if you focused purely on combat skills. FFVIII gave you a number of very powerful rewards for powering up your GFs, though I can't remember how that was done.

Everyone keeps hatin' on the junction system, but I played fairly casually without min/maxing, and didn't have any horrible trouble with the game - just a little grind towards the end to make the final boss easier.

I did almost none of the side content and couldn't beat the game because my weapons were too weak, I didn't max some spells, and I was under leveled. Oh yeah, did I mention that I was stuck in this situation because I got stuck in the final area which gave no warning that you would be unable to leave it once entered? Yeah... As for the junction system, it discouraged using magic and encouraged massive amounts of grinding in the form of drawing. It's without a doubt one of the worst systems in the history of FF, though the idea behind it was interesting.

 

[Phil the Nuka-Cola Dude]

Actually it's level scaling was more complicated than that and the attempt to eliminate grinding was a good one. Oblivion didn't punish you for leveling up if you were leveling up the right skills, in fact it made the game far too easy if you focused purely on combat skills. FFVIII gave you a number of very powerful rewards for powering up your GFs, though I can't remember how that was done.

What? Leveling from non-combat skills is a great way to get yourself fucked once all the bandits/marauders start showing up with glass/daedric armor (why the fuck are they still living in a hole if they've got armor/weapons worth thousands upon thousands of septims?). The only way to kill shit late-game at a reasonable pace (without mods) was to enchant a weapon with lower elemental resist and lower magic resist mods, along with the corresponding damage; as the lower res multiplies over and over, making that piddly ~5 damage enchant do several thousand after a few swings. Otherwise enjoy hacking away at enemies for 20+ seconds each (and most likely having to stop and take a repair break in the middle of it) with your crappy legendary weapon that doesn't scale with you.


And no, the leveling in FF8 really isn't much more complicated than that. If it was an attempt to eliminate grinding, they fucked that up big time since it just switched the grinding from random encounters to grinding Triple Triad/drawing. The fact that someone who keeps their party at a low level and never touches a single random encounter is infinitely more powerful (For example, you can kill that spider-bot in dollet right off the bat) than someone who levels up is a pretty terrible system in my book.

 

[Ausdoerrt]

Oh yeah, did I mention that I was stuck in this situation because I got stuck in the final area which gave no warning that you would be unable to leave it once entered?

I dunno, maybe there wasn't a giant warning message like the games have these days, but the buildup and characters' reactions made it plenty clear you're headed for a final showdown, IIRC. I do agree that the weapon upgrade system that took lots of grinding and side-tracking was a pretty big drawback (not to mention that, if you missed that one magazine you couldn't get the best ones), but frankly in my playthrough I got the feeling of being under-leveled way before the final boss area. In fact, I'm surprised you even made it there at all.

Then again, it's kind of your fault if you didn't keep more than one save, or never upgraded your weapon.

FFVIII gave you a number of very powerful rewards for powering up your GFs, though I can't remember how that was done.

Among other things, faster summoning time and maybe higher damage, for the GFs the character was more "attuned" to.

I thought that they did a good job on FFVII's world and plot, up there for contention for best FF plot in my mind. FFVIII was a character drama through and through, I didn't feel like the setting was all that important to the plot.

Well, I never finished VII because I couldn't take it anymore, basically, so I don't know the overall plot, but what I do know of it looked OK if not great. The characters made me cringe though, and it's the characters not the plot quality that usually carry a story-focused Japanese game. I mean, FFVII is light year away from being good just on the merits of plot alone, even if it may be better than the plot-less earlier games (though at what cost?).

Well that, and I could never bear how freaking ugly the game looked most of the time. Why they couldn't use the same models for exploration as what they had for combat screen is beyond me.

 

[Alphadrop]

Mods for the PC version fixed that. Shame mods for the PC version can't fix all the crashing.